Quantity of Quality Time
The quantity of time we spend with our kids provides comfort and communicates importance. You’re probably familiar with the expression that your calendar reflects what’s important to you. But we often rely on quantity time as a substitute for quality time. It’s not quite the same, though. Read More
Create A Rhythm | High School (9th-12th)
Kickstarting Your Relationship With Your Teenager
So, let’s just start by saying I’m not the most mechanically inclined person God ever created. But somehow that doesn’t exempt me from owning a garage filled with small engines: a snowblower, lawnmower, leaf blower, weed trimmer and the like. My technique for starting these machines is always... Read More
Making Room for Questions
Creating a Rhythm that Helps your Kids Open Up on Their Terms Every day now, I wait for my five-year-old to come home on the bus. I can see him stretching to peek out the window as it pulls around the corner. When he steps off, his cheeks... Read More
The Search for More
Once we had kids my husband and I quickly learned dates were going to look a lot different. We hadn’t realized that before children, every night was date night. Kids complicated things, made the night out—due to babysitting costs—much more expensive. Unless it’s a special occasion, date nights... Read More
Create A Rhythm | Fight For The Heart | Make It Personal
What’s Going On In Your Heart?
It had been a rough week. School was just beginning. Our family was transitioning through some things. My husband and I had to adjust to a new job change for me, which requires some extra travel. And our girls were in new classrooms with new friends and new... Read More
Create A Rhythm | Fight For The Heart | Imagine The End
Bad Days
On a good morning, the bananas I give my boys to eat don’t have any brown spots, the color plate they request is clean, the eggs are cooked just past the sliminess stage, their favorite shirts aren’t at the bottom of the dirty clothes hamper and every request... Read More
Farewell Summer
It’s fun to scroll the Facebook feed for photos of families on vacation. I absolutely L-O-V-E seeing parents and kids being themselves and having fun together. Since I’m a youth pastor, I geek out when pictures of teens with their parents on vacation. It’s almost like everyone becomes... Read More
Create A Rhythm | Family Life | Imagine The End
How to Slow Down Childhood
The minute you have a kid, a chorus of people will come around you and proclaim, “They grow up so fast! They grow up so fast!” Before you have even left the maternity ward or adoption agency with your child, you will feel the great pressure of time bearing... Read More
Create A Rhythm | Family Life | Imagine The End
What Happens at Dinner
If you were a fly on the wall of my house between 5:00 and 5:30 pm you would observe something that—after some time—you might describe as dinner. You would notice how seemingly haphazard, disorganized, and muddled it was, but at some point, you might be able to discern... Read More
Create A Rhythm | Elementary (K-5th) | Fight For The Heart
Why Family Vacations Need to be a Non-Negotiable
It’s funny what your kids remember. I was doing some reminiscing with my 18 and 22 year old sons recently. We were talking about the good times we had when they were younger. I was remembering the. . . dinner conversations parties house full of friends water fights... Read More